Soccer for Success Tackles Gardening at Stetser Elementary School

Students at Stetser Elementary School in Chester on Thursday traded in soccer balls
and corner kicks for leaf compost and peat moss to construct four raised bed gardens
as part of the Chester Upland Soccer for Success program.

Students and parents worked with Soccer for Success volunteers to construct the gardens in a grassy area beside the school. According
to Brent Jacquette, head men's soccer coach at Widener University and director of
the Chester Upland Soccer for Success program, students and parents will tend the gardens as they grow over the summer
and partake in the harvest this fall.The Soccer for Success program is an after-school youth development program that uses soccer as a tool to
combat childhood obesity and promote healthy lifestyles for low-income students. The
U.S. Soccer Foundation selected Widener to receive a $200,000 grant to operate the
Chester Upland Soccer for Success program.

Students and parents donned gloves and literally plunged into the dirt, mixing a combination
of peat moss, leaf compost, manure and other nutrient-rich concoctions to kick-start
the growing process. They planted a variety of seeds including tomato, strawberry,
sweet potato, carrot, radish, beet, zucchini and yellow squash.

The school planted two raised bed gardens with the help of Soccer for Success last year and had a dinner which incorporated sweet potatoes in a number of the dishes,
which were a big hit with the students, according to Stetser Elementary School Principal
Janet Baldwin.

"We will incorporate the harvest into the school lunch program," Baldwin said, "and
parents will take home any extra vegetables for their own family meals."

The purpose of the gardens was not lost on fourth grade student Day'Ami Moyet, who
served as a team leader in the construction of one of the gardens. She said she was
looking forward to eating the carrots and green beans when they are harvested.